Beasts within
by Hyena king
Summary: This is a story I thought up of a while ago. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Rated T.


I slowly drove down the snow covered road, trying to see through the sudden snow storm that had kicked up a few minutes ago. Great, just freaking great. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to deal with this crap. Oh well, to late to go back now. OK, I,m lying, there would still be time to turn back, hell, it would be advisable, actually, but my quarry was located right here, at the edge of civilization, the woods that even now, called out to my inner evil. My savage brother...

Shaking off the feeling, I continued onward, determined to find my prey before he ate some poor farmers sheep, or, god forbid, was discovered by some campers, which would inevitably result in a really bloody massacre that would be shown on CNN and broadcasted to the entire world. We were having problems containing this as it was. I sighed, knowing I'd never let go if I screwed this up. It would be a failure, not only to the innocents involved, but to my failure of keeping my prey safe.

"Could we please switch the station to something with music from the correct century?" Zeke said as he warmed his hands on the heater. "I feel like I,m in some nursing home, for cripes sake."

I shot a glance at my "partner" At twenty-nine, he looked like he was still in high school, wearing a black T-shirt that had the logo of some band I was unfamiliar with, ripped jeans he insisted on wearing, despite the obvious weather conditions, and here was the kicker, a mane of spiked, dark blue hair. I took pride in the fact that I was one of the few people who knew that that was actually his natural hair color, not dyed like that.

As for the music, it was currently blaring,_ Love potion number 9, _A personal favorite of mine. So I listened to oldies music from time to time, so sue me. My personal favorite genre is country. Yeah, it's shocking right? But that's neither here nor there.

To answer his question, I said. "I,m the one who's driving. Therefore, I decide what music we listen to. It's practically a law."

Zeke scoffed dismissively. "Since when have I cared about laws? I,m a rebel, remember?"

"Tell that to Bella." At that, Zeke cringed a bit, and I smiled at my small victory. Bella was his fiance, though how that came to be is beyond me. One thing I knew about the fiery vixen was that she was one of the few women immune to his bullshit. Hence, why he was afraid of her.

It took a moment for Zeke to get his bearings before he retorted. "At least I,m getting some."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Nice comeback."

Zeke looked at me, his face getting serious. "While we're on the subject-"

I held up my hand to silence him. "We're not doing this again, Zeke."

But it was too late. "You need to find yourself a girl."

I sighed. "Why does everyone think I need a lady? First you, then Maurice, now even Nathan's getting on my ass about it."

"Well, you have been alone for a while now..."

"I know, I don't need to be reminded." I sighed "Look, there's nothing wrong a women can fix, alright?"

"Oh, yeah? Remember that dog I gave you?"

I sighed at that memory. "I told you, I didn't want a dog!"

Zeke wasn't finished yet, though. "A week after you got it, it ran away. You didn't even blink at that. Just went right back to work. Does that tell you how emotionally available you are or what?"

"Maybe I,m just ugly. Ever consider that?"

"Oh, look at yourself in the mirror sometime, will you?"

I did just that while he ranted. Well, I took a quick look into the side view mirror. I looked like an average white male, with angular features and blue eyes. I had a five 'o clock shadow, the result of forgetting to shave this morning. Again. My brown hair came down to me lower neck and curled up despite my attempts to come it back. I wasn't unattractive, but I wasn't what most women would consider their "Dream Guy" either.

I sighed, but ignored that feeling in my chest I got when we talked about this kind of thing. Zeke's words actually bothered me a lot more then I would admit, but that wasn't important. What was important was the job.

Speaking of which...

I stopped the car suddenly. Without waiting for Zeke, I got out and went over to the edge of the woods way outside the Tri-Cities area, on the road to Spokane, actually. In front of me where the tracks of a large creature. And it wasn't a bear.

The prints were shaped to suggest a cloven-hooved animal. A big one. They were also in a pattern to suggest that the creature was bipedal. I saw this from the car as we drove by. Actually, I saw the several damaged trees that littered the path before me. That kind of destruction was kind of a dead giveaway.

Zeke came up beside me and examined the tracks. After a quick inspection, he said "It's Geoffry, alright."

I sighed, then began walking up the path. "Let's go, then."

Being a beastman's tough. For starters, no one knows how the whole thing got started, but the earliest recordings of us date back to ancient Rome, if you can believe it. Accounts of horned creatures, living on the fringes of society, killing anything in our path. This is true, in more ways then I care to count.

Most of us were just leaving completely normal lives when it happened. We weren't like werewolves. We didn't spread our curse like they did. Rather, it just happened. Ascension. one moment, paying your taxes, the next, turning into a giant rage monster. After ascension, for some reason, we make for isolated wilderness, almost on instinct, actually, where we live miserable lives, killing anything that so much as looks at us wrong, our fur becoming filthy and infested with tick and fleas, the works.

I don't know the exact details, but apparently, some of us managed to regain our sanity, our humanity. Even found out how the magic that transformed us works. How to become human again. Or, at least, as human as it gets for they made it their life's mission to track down others who suffered the same fate as them and helped them regain their own sanity. Cleaned them, taught them how to be human, got them jobs, rehabilitated them.

That's what I did. As part of the northwestern Warherd, it was my duty to help those who were damned to be nothing more then wild beasts.

Speaking of the present, I looked around at the self made trail our prey, Geoffry, had made and frowned.

"If our source is correct, he couldn't have gone far." Our "source" was Geoffry's wife, Prudence. She had given Oscar, our Beastlord, a call as soon as Geoffry regressed. This was one of the biggest problems with Beastmen. That fear of regression. Where our primal selves fight us in a battle of dominance that, in some people, finally end in the beast's favor. Our job in that regard to find them and take them to the Warehouse, alive, if possible.

Zeke shrugged. "Maybe he's-"

He didn't get to finish. A gigantic log nearly struck him dead center, but, luckily, it only clipped him. Still, the force sent him hurtling into the tree with a cry. I quickly turned in the direction of the point of origin of the projectile and saw Geoffry.

Only, not what you would expect from him.

He was a gor, the most common type of Beastman we have, though nevertheless dangerous. He was a Caprigor, to be exact, the very fact shown through his very appearance. He stood about seven feet, towering over my six-foot-four-frame easily. He was covered in brown fur, powerful muscles showing underneath it. His feet ended in cloven hooves that crushed twigs underfoot. The most impressive aspect about him was his head. It was hircine, (Goat like for the uneducated.) in appearance. He had an impressive set of ram like horns, that curled so that the tip stopped at his chin. Unlike a goat, his mouth was a mess of razor sharp teeth that could tear flesh from bone easily.

One thing I noticed about him was, like in his human form, this beast had a bit of a paunch on him, so I knew it was Geoffry. The other thing was the large log that he still held in his clawed right hand. We couldn't take a bath to save our lives, but we somehow still had the mental capability to use weapons.

That sucked. For me.

Geoffry roared and charged, swinging the log like a club. I barely got out of the way in time, so that it merely clipped me on the shoulder. It still sent me sprawling to the snow, though. Geoffry took a minute to wonder where I'd gone, giving me enough time to get back up before he realized I was beside him and charged in my direction.

I growled and got out of the way, this time with no damage taken. I could transform now, put us both on even ground, but the problem was, it would take me a few minutes to do so, and that was enough time for Geoffry to pulverize me to pulp.

I growled and prepared for another assault, but then I heard Zeke shout. "Over here, you fat fuck!"

Geoffry turned to see Zeke, having recovered from the earlier assault, smiling like a daredevil. If there was one thing Zeke was good at, it was being an ass. And an ass was what I needed.

I didn't pay too much attention to Geoffry and Zeke as I began to transform. I tapped into the hidden magic that was hidden within me and began to change. Like werewolves, transforming was painful and disturbing to watch, if not more so for beastmen.

I grunted as red fur sprouted out of my body, my fingers became claws, horns protruding from my forehead, my mouth elongated into a muzzle and my teeth became fangs. My feet became hooves, breaking through my shoes. My clothes ripped asunder, leaving a strip of my pants to act like a sort of loin cloth over my groin.

After this, I shook my head to get my bearings, then turned and saw how Zeke was doing.

The slippery devil had evaded all of Geoffry's blows, but was now cornered against a tree, Geoffry lifting his "Club" To finish the job. Zeke turned to me helplessly.

Taking my cue, I roared to get Geoffry's attention. As expected, he turned and roared at me back, lifting his club and charging. I waited...and waited...When Geoffry was right on top of me, I leaped to the side, grabbed him by the horns and pulled. Using my strength and his forward momentum, I sent him charging straight into a tree. Geoffry crashed to his side, stirred once, then was still.

I had not expected that to work. At all.

I turned to see Zeke striding up to me.

"Nice work, dog." He said with a smirk. Since I was a Khorngor, who look more like canines then goats, he gave me the nickname dog. I growled at him, to which he just held up his hands in surrender.

"You going to stay like that, Rico? Cause I don't think we'll be able to carry him to the car like that."

I didn't think we'd fit him into the car, but I didn't want to tell him that. Not like I could, anyway.

Oh, I forgot to tell you my name, huh?

I,m Rico Auditore.

I am a beastman.

**A little trivia before I end this. I got the idea from this from Warhammer, a game that I only played on Xbox, but loved the lore of it, and by reading the book, "Cry Wolf." From the Aklpha and Omega series. It also had the preview of Bone Crossed in it. (I got it a long time ago.) 'And I sort of fell in love with the series, though I,ve only seen sample pages of those stories. I don't expect to continue this series, mostly because of my limited knowledge of the Mercy Thompson world, but I hope you enjoyed this story nevertheless.**

**Asta!**


End file.
